Egyptair is currently operating a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to Australia. This one-off charter flight is, at the time of writing, en-route for Manila in the Philippines and will continue onto Brisbane later today. The journey is thought to be a repatriation flight to bring home stranded citizens due to the coronavirus and subsequent travel restrictions.
Egyptair cooperates in a massive rescue mission
Egyptair flight MS3054 touched down into Manila at 23:08 (15:08 UTC) today (25th April), having completed another leg of its trip to Australia. The carrier is thought to be transferring Australian, Kiwi, and South Pacific citizens closer to home, according to the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Andrew Barnes. Barnes shared a tweet in which he said that the aircraft had flown to Lungi in Sierra Leone before arriving into Cairo.
There goes the Egypt Air charter
to Lungi, Sierra Leone, with Australians
, Kiwis
& Pacific Islanders
heading home. After collecting more passengers in Lungi, it’s off Downunder with fuel stops in Cairo & Manila. After about 30 hours, they will land in Brisbane! pic.twitter.com/eYbYDM1V2W
— Andrew Barnes (@AusAmbGHA) April 24, 2020
In a separate tweet, Mr Barnes said that he was “very pleased” to have helped close to 100 people stranded in Africa get back home.
Very pleased that we have today been able to assist nearly 100 Australians from Ghana and Sierra Leone get on a charter flight back home. Thanks #ChurchofJesusChrist for your generosity in providing this opportunity. @ScottMorrisonMP @MarisePayne @dfat @Smartraveller @LDSchurch pic.twitter.com/Xay9elDCE7
— Andrew Barnes (@AusAmbGHA) April 24, 2020
According to data on Flight Radar 24, the Boeing 787-9 registered SU-GEW left Cairo International Airport on 24th April for Accra in Ghana. After arriving in Accra Kotoka International Airport, the aircraft flew on the same day to Freetown Lungi International Airport in Sierra Leone. After collecting additional passengers there, it continued to Cairo. The airline has now just completed the penultimate flight before arriving in Brisbane.
Will stranded Egyptians be brought back to Cairo?
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner left Cairo International Airport (CAI) earlier this morning at 05:45 UTC and flew 5,705 miles to Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL). At 00:30 local time in Manila on 26th April (16:30 UTC on 25th April), the aircraft will begin the next leg of the journey. It will arrive at its destination in Brisbane at 00:10 UTC on 26th April, having covered an additional 3,596 miles.
Amazingly, the airline’s incredible journey will not stop there. Once it has dropped off passengers, the Dreamliner will return to Cairo. Only this time, it will do the route directly. At 13:00 on 27th April (03:00 UTC), the aircraft will leave Brisbane and return to Egypt. It will touchdown at 20:55 UTC on 27th April.
It is not clear if the airline will repatriate stranded Egyptians in Australia on the way home. On Monday this week, a cabinet meeting was chaired in Egypt to rescue over 3,300 citizens stuck across the world. Some of those people in need of flights are located in Australia.
We contacted Egyptair for more information, but it was unavailable to comment at the time of publication.
Egyptair’s other repatriation efforts
Like many airlines, Egyptair is collaborating with its government and others to bring stranded nationals back on home soil. On the 8th April, the airline flew 344 Canadians from Cairo to Toronto in an embassy-coordinated repatriation effort.
Egyptair still has a few rescue flights on the cards for the coming month. In May, it will operate two trips between the US and Egypt to collect its citizens. On 1st May, it will fly to Washington and is due to return to Marsa Alam, Egypt. On 3rd May, another Egyptair flight will operate from Cairo to the US. It is thought this will also be to Washington however the information about this route has not been confirmed. The return journey will land in Marsa Alam.
Are you following Egyptair’s flight to Brisbane? Let us know in the comments.